IMPORTANT POINT
The main legal point established in the judgment is the importance of proving lawful possession in cases of criminal trespass and theft, and the consideration of age in modifying sentences.

JUDGMENT

1. The judgment, dtd. 16/3/2011, in Special Sessions Case No.39 of 2008, on the file of the Court of Special Sessions Judge for trial of offences under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (POA) Act-cum-IV Additional Sessions Judge, Kadapa (for short, 'the learned Special Judge'), is under challenge in this Criminal Appeal filed by the appellants/accused Nos.1 and 2.

2. The parties to this Criminal Appeal will hereinafter be referred to as described before the trial Court, for the sake of convenience.

3. The Special Sessions Case No.39 of 2008 on the file of the Court of Special Judge, Kadapa arose out of committal order in PRC No.18 of 2008 on the file of the Court of Judicial Magistrate of First Class, Jammalamadugu (for short, 'the learned Magistrate') pertaining to Crime No.6 of 2008 of Peddamudiam Police Station, Kadapa District registered for the offences under Ss. 447, 427 and 392 R/w. Sec. 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short, 'the IPC') and Sec. 3(1)(iv)(v)and (x) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (for short, 'the SCs and STs Act') .

4. The case of the prosecution, in brief, according to the averments in the charge sheet filed by the Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), Jammalamadugu, in the aforesaid Crime, is that the de-facto complainant K. Subba Lakshumma (LW.1) is a resident of Suddapalli Village of Peddamudiam Mandal belongs to Yerukala caste as such she comes under the category of 'Scheduled Tribe'. Accused belongs to Kapu caste as such they belong to the category of Other Caste. A-1 - Thummaluru Venkata Konda Reddy was an Ex-Army person, served in the Army for 15 years i.e., from 1972 to 1987. He was granted DKT Patta for the agricultural land of an extent of Ac.2.00 cents in S.No.402 of Suddapalli Village fields by the then Tahsildar, Peddamudiam. After his retirement from Army, A-1 secured job as a Fitter in the Indian Railways at Secunderabad and working as such in Lallaguda, Secunderabad. Since the land granted to A-1 under DKT Patta was not cultivated for long time and it was kept fallow, Tahsildar, Peddamudiam resumed the land by cancelling the DKT Patta granted to A-1, after following the due process. To that effect an order was passed by the Tahsildar, Peddamudiam on 15/5/2007. Thereupon, the land was allotted to the de-facto complainant vide DKT Patta No.19, dtd. 13/9/2007. While so, A-1, who came to know about cancellation of his DKT Patta, preferred an Appeal against the order of Tahsildar and it was pending enquiry. After allotment of land and issuance of DKT Patta to the de-facto complainant, she started cultivating the same and raised Bengal Gram (sanagalu) crop. A-1, having come down to Peddamudiam to the house of A-2, who is his brother-in-law, went to the said land and found the Bengal Gram crop raised by LW.1 was ready for harvest. A-1 and A-2 got approached LW.3 - Kotapalli Nagaraju and LW.4 - Siddamreddy Chandra Mouli Reddy and engaged their harvest machine and on 6/2/2008 morning at about 11:00 a.m., they took the harvest machine to the land allotted to LW.1 and harvested the Bengal Gram crop. On coming to know about the said incident, she rushed to the land and questioned the accused, who abused her with her caste name and insulted her. Further, the accused intimidated LW.1 and also slapped on her cheek and took away the harvested crop in a tractor. Basing on her report, LW.15 - B Ramakrishna, SI of Police, Peddamudiam Police Station, registered the FIR as a case in Crime No.6 of 2008 for the aforesaid offences. The Superintendent of Police, Kadapa vide proceedings in RC.No.32/C3/SC-ST/2008, dtd. 7/2/2008, appointed LW.16 - K. Narasimhulu, SDPO, Jammalamadugu, as Investigation Officer to investigate the case. Thereafter, LW.16 visited the scene of offence, found the Bengal Gram crop raised by LW.1 was cut with harvest machine and also found the tyre marks of harvest machine in the agricultural field. During investigatio